Great White

Petite Canadian strawberries
Heavy with juice 
speckled with tiny seeds
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

Turmeric breakfast cereal
with crunchy strips of fatty coconut
Golden flakes in sepia milk 
Thickly coating my inner cheeks
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

Fresh blackberries, 
lush and speared on a bar stick
Swirling, bobbing in my frozen drink
Cloaking my throat with arctic sweet
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

Arrabbiata, robust and rouge
Flavors unctuous, sauce slick
Pasta, achievement, at its peak 
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

Dutch-processed cocoa 
bloomed hot and ready
Drizzled into brownie pan
Baked ’til set, fudgy bottoms, crisp shell
gobbled standing with restored beliefs,
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

Curried Black Sea Bass 
Swimming in wee tomatoes 
What a dinner to tuck into, right?
Atop a bed of fragrant rice wreath
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

A flight of berry red super Tuscans
Warmed in the Italian afternoon sun
Swirled and sipped and cherished 
Alongside the creators of this ancient gift
Lift a glass; see claret up top 
and burgundy beneath
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

Minced garlic and ginger waft through the air
Black gold drizzles into marinade, thick soy
Sizzling oil to wok, then chili then beef
This is why I don’t have white teeth.

A lifetime of joys, of culinary rapture
Super foods and green smoothies 
and sacred blueberry pancakes
Spices and picos and acidic shrubs
Coke Floats and Pistachio creme.
Biting into life, seizing color and flavor
with both jaws engaged
can be undone by no amount of bleach;
This is why I don’t have white teeth.